+

Tonus Peregrinus

May the three-fold blessing of the Triune God be upon all who visit my blog.

Pray for me, a sinner.

+

Good St. Matthew, pray for me

The General Collect of The Family Uher

O MIGHTY and merciful God, who gavest thy Son Jesus Christ to be born of the Blessed Virgin Mary and to be guarded by the just, venerable, and blessed Saint Joseph, her most chaste spouse: Keep the Holy Family ever before our eyes so that we may rightly order our own family to the glory of thy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord who with thee and the Holy Ghost art one God in glory everlasting. Amen.

+

St Columba, pray for me.

Franciscan Sisters

Pilgrimage of Grace

Holy Wounds Banner

ETERNAL Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all of the souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere,for sinners in the universal Church, those within my house, and in my own family. Amen.

Walsingham Abbey

THE HOUR

In the Holy City JERUSALEM

The time in my wee Hermitage

In Holy Glastonbury & Old Sarum

Ave Jesu Christe

Our Lady of the Atonement, pray for us.

+

O God of unchangeable Power and eternal Light: Lookfavourably on thy whole Church, that wonderful and sacred Mystery; by the effectual working of thy Providence, carryout in tranquillity the plan of Salvation; let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being madenew, and that all things are being brought to their perfectionby Him through Whom all things were made, thy Son JesusChrist our Lord; who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unityof the Holy Ghost, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Welcome, Dear Readers

visits

16 November 2014

Prince Hans-Adam II: The State in the Third Millennium

+

I am reading a most remarkable book that should be read by all Catholics who have a serious interest in political theory and constitutional law. It is entitled "The State in the Third Millennium" by Prince Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein.

In his introduction the Prince writes:What kind of state does humanity want in the third millennium? President Kennedy, whom I had the honor to meet personally when I was a young man, said in his Inaugural Address in 1961: “Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.” As a young, idealistic person, I was in those days convinced by this statement.

Today, I may not have lost all of my ideals, but decades of experience in national and international politics, including many years as the head of state of a small but modern democracy, have convinced me of the truth of the reverse statement: Ask not what a citizen can do for the state, but rather what the state can do better for the citizen than any other organization. This organization could be a community, an international organization, or a private company.

I would like to set out in this book the reasons why the traditional state as a monopoly enterprise not only is an in efficient enterprise with a poor price–performance ratio, but even more importantly, becomes more of a danger for humanity the longer it lasts.

[Publisher's Notice: Prince Hans-Adam of Liechtenstein is able to look at the modern nation-state from many different angles: as a head of state; as a politician, who had to win popular votes in a direct democracy; as a businessman active not only in his own state but also in different continents; as an amateur historian fascinated by the evolution of humanity and the influence of military technology, transportation and the economy on the size of states. He analyses those forces that have influenced human history in the past and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future. These include religions, ideologies, military technology and economics. He suggests how to make the traditional democratic constitutional state both more democratic and more efficient. He also discusses strategies on how to realise worldwide the modern democratic constitutional state in the third millennium. His goal is that people don't have to serve the state anymore and be threatened by wars or other state measures, but that all states have been turned into peaceful service companies which serve the people and humanity. That is the purpose of the draft constitution for the state of the third millennium which closes this eloquent, lucidly argued and exemplarily concise manifesto.]